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Some in anguish, some in fear, Venezuelans raced for home and stocked up on food and water Tuesday after the government announced the death of President Hugo Chávez, the larger-than-life firebrand socialist who led the nation for 14 years.
Vice-President Nicolas Maduro’s voice broke and tears ran down his face as he appeared on national television to announce that Mr. Chávez died at 4.25 p.m. local time (11.25 p.m. IST) “after battling hard against an illness over nearly two years.”
A few hours later, Foreign Minister Elias Jaua affirmed one of Chávez’s final wishes — Mr. Maduro would be interim President and then be the ruling party’s candidate to carry on Mr. Chávez’s populist “revolution” in elections to be called within 30 days